Q&A with Johnny O’Neal: Inside the Stormlight RPG Kickstarter Launch

Welcome back to Dragonsteel’s GenCon coverage! We had an awesome opportunity to catch Johnny O’Neal, co-founder of Brotherwise Games, to hear him answer some fan questions about the upcoming Stormlight RPG. So, if you missed out on the live version, we’ll catch you up on the highlights right here.

When Does the Kickstarter Go Live?

You don’t have to wait long. The Stormlight RPG Kickstarter launches on Tuesday, August 6th. You can join the pre-launch list now to be notified as soon as it goes live!

When Will I Receive the Game?

You can expect to receive your items from the Kickstarter in the second half of 2025. 

How Do the Adventures Work?

So, there will be three pre-made adventures that will be available at launch. Bridge Nine is a level one adventure that’s perfect for players of all experience levels. It features pregenerated characters and introduces you to the game’s unique mechanics. It’s also designed to show off the Stormlight setting, introducing unique world-building elements like spren, crustacean beasts, and legends of the Lost Radiants. You’ll be able to play that adventure for free during the Kickstarter!

If you prefer to build your own characters, we’ve created another introductory adventure called The First Step. During this unique “level zero” adventure, players will create characters as they play: every choice you make reveals a new detail about your character. By the end of the adventure, you’ll have survived an ambush, faced a Shardbearer, and completed a character sheet!

The system’s biggest full-length adventure is an original story from Brandon Sanderson himself, in collaboration with Dan Wells, which our team developed into a six-chapter campaign. Stonewalkers offers the most canonical experience possible, taking characters across Roshar on a mission that leads directly into the events of Wind and Truth.

What Are the Unique Features of the Game?

The Stormlight RPG features an original system using a “d20 plus modifier” roll as its core mechanic, but with rules purpose-built to tell Stormlight stories. Instead of traditional character classes, heroes are built using talent trees, allowing for multifaceted character development. This system is designed after the complexity of characters in the books. Take Kaladin for example. He is simultaneously a surgeon, a soldier, an officer, and a Windrunner. We wanted our players to have that same experience, without diluting their character’s power.

Similar to the skill trees in a game like Skyrim, players aren’t confined to a single path. This flexibility ensures that characters can grow across various paths, emphasizing narrative and character-building over just action and combat (though there’s plenty of that, too).

Plus, there’s the plot die! The plot die in the Stormlight RPG adds an exciting twist to gameplay by introducing narrative elements that can change the course of events. Rolling the plot die can result in critical successes called Opportunities, or negative plot twists called Complications. This simple addition to play makes the story more dynamic and unpredictable. It enhances the game's focus on storytelling, reflecting the character-driven spirit of Brandon Sanderson's books.

What Is the World Guide?

First and foremost, the Stormlight World Guide is something that fans have requested for years: an encyclopedia and art book for Roshar. Created for every fan of the books, it features chapters on the ecology, history, and cultures of Roshar. It collects some of the most iconic images from the series, while also featuring more than a hundred new canonical illustrations.

The World Guide even covers the less familiar parts of Roshar, providing in-depth descriptions of places like Rall Elorim and the Azish Empire. Each chapter is full of new lore, provided by Brandon, that lends depth and texture to the world’s unique cultures. For gamers, the World Guide also features stat blocks for iconic creatures and adversaries that can be used to help build adventures!

What was Brandon Sanderson’s Involvement in the Stormlight TTRPG?

Brandon Sanderson is deeply involved in this project, and it was a lot of fun to learn new lore directly from him! He’s incredibly passionate about working with Brotherwise to create an unprecedented game, because the Stormlight RPG is entirely canonical. His influence and expertise ensure that the game remains true to the spirit of the Stormlight Archive. Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells even outlined the main campaign that comes with the RPG!

Of course, this project was a team effort. In addition to Dan’s close work with the RPG team, Brotherwise and Dragonsteel met on a weekly basis to review art with Issac Stewart, Dragonsteel’s VP of Creative Development. Each piece was lovingly briefed, commissioned, critiqued, and revised to paint some of the most accurate pictures of Roshar we’ve ever seen! 

Has Brandon Sanderson Ever Played Tabletop Roleplaying Games?

Oh, yes. I got to interview Brandon a few weeks ago for the campaign and he told me all about his adventures in TTRPGs. Fun fact: Brandon has pretty much played every RPG system released from 1985 to 2000, although he now focuses more on writing.

Can You Create Your Own Campaign?

Yes, you can absolutely create your own campaigns within the Stormlight RPG. It's designed to be accessible and engaging for both new and experienced game masters. If you're looking for an RPG to dive into right out of the box, this is the one for you.

This is a world with a lot of stories to be told. From creating entire Orders of Knights Radiant to writing interludes that hint at an entire continent’s worth of nations and cultures, Brandon has created a setting with unlimited storytelling possibilities. Now it’s your turn to bring together friends and create your own stories!

Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the Brotherwise Games Kickstarter launch on August 6th! And, keep checking The Cognitive Realm on Dragonsteel’s site for more exclusive GenCon coverage.